Pen Argyl tutor sentenced for sexual assault Korean exchange student

Riley Yates, Of The Morning Call

A Pen Argyl man who sexually assaulted a 14-year-old Korean girl enrolled in his family's foreign exchange program was sentenced Friday to up to 10 years in state prison. A prosecutor said she expects other members of his family will also face criminal charges.

Richard Kim, 34, hurt a girl whose parents had entrusted ACE Academy with giving her a good experience in the United States, said Northampton County Judge Leonard Zito. And when his crime was discovered, Zito said, there appeared to have been an active attempt to silence the victim by getting other students to falsely testify.

"The conduct is reprehensible and the fallout and the wreckage of what occurred to this young girl at the hands of this defendant is irreparable," Zito said.

In May, Kim admitted to 17 counts of indecent assault and one of corrupting a minor. Under Zito's sentence, he will be eligible for parole after five years. He'll also have 10 years and four months of probation once he completes his prison time.

ACE Academy housed and mentored students from South Korea attending Pius X Catholic High School. When Kim pleaded guilty, Assistant District Attorney Patricia Broscius said a criminal probe had been launched into whether students at the academy, run by Kim's parents, Min and Angela Kim, were pressured into supporting the defendant against the victim.

Broscius said Friday that the investigation is ongoing, with charges expected.

Richard Kim's attorney, Charles Gordon, said he is now also representing Min and Angela Kim. Gordon said allegations that they "intimidated, or in essence abused" as many as 17 or 18 students were deemed unfounded in all but one case after an investigation by the Northampton County Children, Youth and Families Division. The lone case is being appealed, he said.

Gordon said he hopes criminal charges aren't filed against the parents, saying that if there were "errors," they were done out of concern for their son.

"I think it is probably very difficult for a parent to not stand up for their children, and perhaps cross some lines they never thought about or intended to," Gordon said.

Richard Kim, a tutor at the academy, coerced oral sex and other sexual contact from the girl over three months, escalating from kissing to fondling to assault, police said. The first advance occurred in 2010 on Nov. 14, which is Kim's birthday, authorities said.

At a preliminary hearing in September, the girl said Kim would direct her to his room with a jerk of his head and force her to undress and kiss him. Three times, while others watched a movie downstairs, he made her perform oral sex, she said.

To police, Kim denied the allegations and apparently had the backing of other students. But there was something suspicious to police when authorities interviewed them: In claiming there was no improper relationship, each read from an index card and sounded as if they had been coached, police said.

Broscius has painted life at the academy at Lobb and Bell avenues as "very regimented." Min Kim was called "Daddy" and "Daddy Director," and students were forced to participate in "ritual meetings" in which individuals suspected of even minor infractions were criticized by the group as a whole, she said.

Gordon said the academy is now "ruined," with no students and up for sale.

Matt Kerr, a spokesman for the Catholic Diocese of Allentown, said Pius X no longer has any business relationship with the academy or the Kims.

Richard Kim had been free on bail after posting the $50,000 needed to secure his release. With Zito's sentence, he was handcuffed and led out of the courtroom.

Seven supporters of Kim were in the courtroom, including his parents. Angela Kim burst into convulsive sobbing, stamping her feet and throwing herself on her husband. Min Kim had to carry her into the hall, where her cries continued to echo.